Kolat's Bizarre Misfortune Could Have A Silver Lining

REINHARD

Cary Kolat may be wondering why so many strange things happen to him at the most prestigious wrestling tournaments in the world.

I have an answer for him. It's so that wrestlers who come along behind him won't have to suffer the same indignities that have robbed him of his place as one of the premier freestylers in the world.

Listen to what the 27-year-old Kolat has experienced in recent years.

In the finals of the 1997 World Championships, he was wrestling an Iranian, who kept buying time by loosening the laces on his wrestling shoes. Kolat eventually lost the bout, and when the incident was reviewed, the international sanctioning body for wrestling established a new rule that wrestlers must tape their laces to prevent them from coming loose.

In the quarterfinals of the 1998 World Championships, he left the gym thinking he had a quarterfinal victory. The result was protested, and 90 minutes later, the bout was awarded to his opponent. That situation sparked the writing of a rule calling for a re-wrestle in the event a protest is upheld.

In the semifinals of the 1999 World Championships, wrestling with a separated shoulder, he beat a world champion from Ukraine, had the decision reversed under protest and then had to re-wrestle an hour later. He lost in overtime.

Through all those disappointments, Kolat continued to point to the 2000 Olympic Games as his opportunity for redemption. Surely, a gold medal could not erase the disappointment and frustration, but it would set him on a new course.

Then the four-time PIAA champion and two-time NCAA champion was knocked out of the Olympics tournament on the first day after a set of circumstances that, if they happened to anyone else, would be considered bizarre. But because they happened to him, they are perceived almost as routine.

Kolat had his hand raised in victory over 1997 world champion Mohammad Talaei of Iran in the opening round. During the bout, Kolat was credited with one two-point takedown that was reviewed by the judges. Upon looking at wrestling's equivalent of the instant replay, the judges let the points stand.

But almost immediately after the bout, Iranian coaches lodged a protest of the scoring.

When a bout is protested, a panel looks at the videotape of the entire match, rescoring it if they deem it necessary. If they come up with a score different from that given during the match, the protest is upheld and the bout is re-wrestled in its entirety.

The backroom panel overturned the matside decision of the judges and called for a re-wrestle. Kolat gave up five points, four on turns on which he may have had a mental lapse, and lost 5-4.

`The scoring was really messed up on the re-wrestle,` said Lehigh University Coach Greg Strobel, a co-coach of the U.S. Olympic team. `They gave the Iranian too many points one time and didn't give Cary enough another time. That would have changed it.`

So, coach, why not protest the scoring?

Well, it seems the rules say you can't protest a protested match.

`It's really unfortunate, but that's the rule,` Strobel said. `It's not logical, you're right, but I don't make rules. We try to influence them to change the rules. Sometimes they change. You have to worry about only the things you can control.`

Wrestling's international body needs to examine that rule right now.

If it is possible for referees or judges to make mistakes in one match, leading to a protest that is accepted, isn't it also possible that the human beings working the re-wrestle also are capable of mistakes? Is it fair to either wrestler to have to accept the second decision as unflawed, if in fact it very likely is not?

You might think that in a sport like wrestling, scoring decisions should be easy to make. However, in freestyle, various numbers of points can be awarded for a particular move, depending on its execution. A takedown is not always a takedown. It can be worth one point, two, three even five.

Subjective? To a degree. Open to differing interpretations? Definitely.

It's time to write another Kolat rule. Soon, the sport will have a book full of rules whose origins can be traced to decisions against him. Future wrestlers will thank him, and the sport will be better for it.